1998 Hall Family News

Happy belated holidays…

Christmas has come and gone, and we were so busy battling snow we didn't get our annual letter out in time. Sounds like a good excuse, doesn't it?

We really did almost have a white Christmas this year (unfortunately, the snow had almost entirely melted by the 25th). And the icy weather and snowball fights were a lot of fun for a while, but they made us realize we're glad we don't live where it snows regularly.

As for the rest of the year…

Jan is still at home growing Bryan and Melody. She enjoyed the luxury this year of taking a few classes: Web page design, watercolor, and using the Internet.

Bryan started kindergarten and enjoys it very much. We are happy with the school and his teacher, Mrs. Grimm, and think Bryan's learning good things. Jan volunteers in his classroom each Friday and Marc serves on the school site council.

Melody is fifteen months old and full of mischief. She wakes up in the morning and starts carrying things from one end of the house to the other, only stopping for naps and mealtimes. She's very busy and lots of fun.

Marc still spends hours each day on the road commuting to his job in Sacramento, where he builds the Web site of the Association of California School Administrators (www.acsa.org). Together, Marc and Jan are building a family web site (but you knew that, since you're here). Check out our other updates.

One of the projects the family worked on this year is a tree house for the kids. We had fun, but didn't get it finished before the cold weather came; so we'll finish it in 1999.

Melody doesn't enjoy camping very much; so our camping trips were limited. We went to Union Valley Reservoir and she cried. We went up in the snow and she cried. We went to Lake Siskiyou and she cried. We went to Disneyland (which, it is true, is only remotely related to camping, but the trend applies) and she cried. Granted, she was sick, teething, or cold on most of those trips. Fortunately, when she's not crying Melody is adorable.

We went to Lake Siskiyou with Jan's extended family as part of our biennial Camp Kith & Kin. The highlight of Bryan's week was when he caught his first fish. We watched the Independence Day parade in Mt. Shasta City and saw fireworks over Lake Siskiyou. Melody stood "independently" for the first time during the fireworks (now she's wal… er, running constantly).

Melody enjoyed our week in Oregon for Thanksgiving more than all of our camping trips combined because she could be warm, have her regular naps, and sleep in a crib. Consequently, we enjoyed it much more, also. The Oregon coast was beautiful and we got to visit a lighthouse, look for rocks and fossils, play racquetball, and eat turkey, in addition to visiting with Jan's family.

At church, Jan is now serving in our ward Relief Society presidency, having been released as a counselor in the Young Women's presidency, while Marc is serving in our ward Elders' Quorum presidency since his release as ward executive secretary.

We wish you all a pleasant, productive, and prosperous New Year!